Intellectual Virtue - Knowing Why We Believe What We Believe, and Having a Good Reason For It

     I have come to believe that it is crucial for each person to closely examine each of their beliefs, and to understand what they are and why they hold to them. This is why I often stress the importance of theology. One cannot hope to interact well with a God about whom they know nothing, and one certainly cannot present an apologetic for a system of belief which they do not understand and have not fully explored. Furthermore, I would say that to hold a belief without knowing why you believe it, or to accept something simply because it is what you have always been told is sheer folly. One simply cannot accept anything and everything they are told simply on the basis of the source, or because it seems to make sense in the context of their already established belief system. No, our beliefs must find their source in the ultimate pursuit of truth. Christ says, “you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” We cannot settle for anything less than the truth. 
     Many of the students at Johnson University where I study are at a point in our lives where we must make our faith our own. It would be easier simply to believe what we have always believed, and it would certainly be more comfortable. But we cannot afford to be comfortable, we are not called to be comfortable. We are called to challenge ourselves, to step out of our comfort zone, to be willing to be outside of our tradition, rejecting what he have always assumed to be correct if it leads us to the truth. Why is truth so important? Because ultimately truth is not some abstract idea, It is a person. God is the embodiment of all truth, and the only way for us to know him who is infinitely higher than we could ever imagine is to pursue truth.
      I greatly admire the way in which Descarte boiled down his belief system to one foundational belief that he knew was absolute, and built his system from there. “I think, therefore I am.” As I boiled down my own system of belief I decided to add to that statement. “I think therefore I am, I am therefore god is.” I say little 'g' god because all I can be sure of based only on the surety of my own existence is that there is something that caused me to be here. Something that made the place that I am in and gave me the capacity to think. Now, through rational deduction and research one can come to the conclusion that 'god' little 'g' is God big 'G,' and that 'God' big 'G' is Yahweh, the Sovereign Lord of the Judeo-Christian tradition. To do this one merely has to follow the train of historical evidence and determine the authority of the Scriptures. That is easily begun through something as simple as watching the prophecy of Scripture fulfilled in history. Once the authority of the Scriptures have been established, the rest is smooth sailing. As Christ says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” The Scriptures tell us of a perfect Creator God who is synonymous with truth. Therefore, we can build our lives and belief on the Scriptures which we have established as true and reliable through rational deduction established from the simple thought, “I think therefore I am, I am therefore God is.” Obviously this is a greatly simplified argument, but I truly believe that should one approach this proposed line of thought with an open mind, one would come to a similar conclusion.
      The way in which we examine such beliefs, it would seem, is hotly contested. A variety of systems of justification were described in Wood's text. I do not think that the three systems he presents are mutually exclusive. On the contrary, I have come to believe that if we are to be truly intellectually virtuous, we must examine our beliefs in light of each of these systems of justification.
     First we must examine our beliefs to see if there is enough solid evidence based in things we know to be true for us to accept them as verifiable beliefs. When we have gathered the evidence we must ask ourselves, did it come from reliable sources? What was our condition when we gathered it? Were we tired or in an altered state of mind that would affect our clarity of thought? In short, is the source of the evidence (and thus the evidence itself) a reliable basis for justified belief? Finally we must evaluate it in light of our already justified beliefs. Does it fit in with what we have already determined to be truth? And since we are pursuing truth, should we find that ourselves convinced that our new belief is more true than previously held ones, we must revaluate both. This is not a process that can be rushed. Nor is it something that we will ever complete, but that is the beauty of it. Our theological and philosophical systems are always developing. When they cease to do so, we must quickly repent, for we have become unteachable.

A Theological Reflection on Manhood and Marriage from an Unmarried Christian Guy

      Let me preface this by saying that I do not yet consider myself a man, but I want to be one. Nor am I a husband or father, but I hope to be some day. What I do know is this: I've only got one chance to do this right, and I want to start preparing right now, because the ideas and attitudes we cultivate while we are single will carry over into our marriages. With that said, take as you will the thoughts and passions that have emerged from my quest for manhood as I strive to figure out what that looks like and what God says about it.

     To be a man is at its core to repent, take up our cross and follow Jesus. After all, Jesus was the perfect man. The problem is that our society has confused us so much in terms of what it means to be a man. It doesn't help that the media tends to portray men as bumbling fools, drunks, or hopelessly violent womanizers. As a result, we have a world--and a church--full of adolescents who are too scared or too selfish to grow up. I don't want to be that guy, I've seen too many families torn apart and sisters in Christ hurt by manhood gone wrong. Fortunately, in a world that is so confused, scripture paints a relatively clear picture of what manhood is meant to be. Unfortunately our culture tells us this is outdated and irrelevant. However, what our culture considers to be relevant and ideal clearly isn't working, so lets take a look at the "outdated and irrelevant" word of a holy and sovereign God, and perhaps we shall see how it is just as relevant and perhaps more urgent now than ever.

     "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies" (Ephesians 5:22-28). 

    The language used in this passage is covenant language, similar to what we read throughout the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the New Testament, particularly in Pauline literature. 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 gives us a glimpse of this. Paul writes, “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

     Adam was the head of the first covenant between God and mankind, as the representative thereof, he sinned and broke the covenant with God. As such, all of humanity must now pay the penalty of sin. Humanity is now subject to death, the natural result of their disobedience (Genesis 2:17). This is both physical—physical death was not part of the original creation—and spiritual. In Ephesians Chapter 2 Paul writes, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:1-4).

     Similarly, Christ is the head of the New Covenant, as the representative of all humanity he lived in perfect obedience to the Father, the life we could not live, dead as we were in our sins. And he died the perfect sacrifice, being fully human and thus paying our penalty and being fully God and thus fulfilling the necessity of perfect righteousness, in doing so redeeming all creation back to himself. As Paul continues in Ephesians 2:5, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”

     Just as Christ was held responsible for the sin of humanity as covenant head, so the man is held responsible for the well-being and spiritual health of his family. This means he is responsible for providing for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of his wife and children. It also means that when he stands before God on the day of judgement he will be held accountable not only for his own deeds but for the holistic well-being of his family. If his children went wild and he failed to give them godly counsel and do all he could to restore them to Christ, he will be held responsible for their apostasy. If his wife is dying spiritually, not growing in community and in grace, he will be held responsible for not doing all he can to lead her into a closer walk with God.

     Men, we are given a high calling and great responsibility. If we are not ready for this, who are we to even look at a woman as a potential relationship? If we are married or in a relationship, we must ask ourselves how well we are fulfilling this calling. These are god's daughters, sacred and beloved. Not only is their Father absolutely holy, all-powerful and sovereign, but he is all knowing. Every thought, every action, every intention of our hearts is an open book to him. We would do well to be afraid! This is not something we can take lightly. 

Why "Evangelism" Is a Horrible Idea

     Last night I went out to hang with some homeless friends under a bridge, and I witnessed something that broke my heart: A couple hundred of "the least of these" standing hungry and broken beneath a bridge, waiting for a bite to eat that they might no longer be hungry, or a cup of water to drink that they might no longer thirst. Only a few feet away were tables covered with good food, clean water and intact clothing, and it would seem for a moment as if all their needs were about to be met. Until the guy praying for the meal breaks off his prayer to start preaching.
     Don't get me wrong, I'm not against preaching... I'm a preacher. I believe in the power of words to bring home the timeless truths of God. Jesus himself preached, as did Peter and Paul. I did however, have a problem with this. As the multitudes stood waiting, helpless to leave unless they wanted to go yet another day without a meal, he yelled at the top of his lungs, shouting about hell and condemnation and telling these people how absolutely terrible they were. Every now and again a verse of scripture was interspersed through the clamor, but when it was heard I wept, for the words of Christ were horribly misrepresented as they emanated from this man's mouth. It was clear to me and those who I was with that the only thing this "gospel" was doing was hardening these peoples hearts.
     Think with me for a moment, how did Jesus do ministry? He sat down and ate with sinners, he developed genuine relationships with people and loved on them. To the "religious" folk who wanted to condemn he spoke harshly, but to the lost and the broken he showed love. This is what we must do! We must meet people where they are at and love them unconditionally. Jesus did not tell us to, "love your neighbor until he converts and stop loving him if he doesn't," but to "love your neighbor as yourself" and to "love one another as I have loved you."
     What would it look like for us to love unconditionally? To reach out and to treat those whom society has marginalized like a human being? That's all they want! Imagine what it would be like to go through life being judged constantly people assuming that you got to be where you are at because of drugs, alcohol or laziness; people treating you as if you where somehow inferior--sub-human because of the circumstances you have fallen upon.
     Or even imagine for a moment that you find yourself without a job, without a home and without a friend because of bad choices you have made. And now, no one will even look you in the eye! Imagine for a moment the brokenness, imagine the despair. Now imagine for a moment that someone looks you in the eye and says, "good morning friend, is there anything I can do for you? Can I get you food or water? Perhaps some clean clothes? Is there some way I could be praying for you today?" What if someone were to ask your name... a name that had become unfamiliar to your own lips from neglect, because no one cared to ask. What if you were treated like an actual person bearing the Imago Dei and dearly loved by your Creator?
     Would not this give you hope? And if this were to happen consistently, wouldn't you wonder, "what makes this person so different? Why do they care so much about me? They say they're 'just a group of folks trying to follow Jesus, and he told us to love people so that's what we're doing...' What if there's something to this Jesus person?"
     Friends, preaching's all well and good, but its not going to validate itself! You can talk and talk until you're blue in the face but if there is nothing to lend credence to your words other than the words themselves, then the words won't have a whole lot of impact. It is a changed life that will bear witness to the truth of your words, a life changed by Jesus and inspired to follow in his footsteps by loving people without limits or conditions.
     And what if they don't respond to your kindness with anything more than a smile and a thank you? We keep loving them! The love of God is not conditional on conversion, and ours shouldn't be either. We're called to feed the hungry, even when they are our enemies (Romans 12:20) and to clothe the naked (Matthew 25:35). For Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40 ).
     So do I think we should even preach to the poor and marginalized when we go to serve them? Well, in the traditional evangelistic sense? No. I believe our lives of love and service are to be our witness and these things will speak far louder than our words ever could. The church has gotten a bad rap, we're hypocritical don't you know? And we judge and condemn. We don't actually care for those who we preach Christ to, we just want them to convert, be baptized and go home.
     The truth is, if people believe that about us they will want nothing to do with what we have to say or the Jesus we represent. We must first prove in a very real and tangible way that we genuinely love those who we profess to, and that we care for them holistically. Don't mistake me here, the key word is genuinely. This isn't some new-fangled evangelism scheme to make converts. Listen: In order to convince people you genuinely love them... we need to genuinely love them! We're not pretending to love people so that they'll believe us and repent, I can't say it enough--Love is not conditional upon repentance! We're to be about genuinely loving people because that's what Jesus was about. Does genuine love mean that eventually we address spiritual needs? Yes. But we do that from a place of friendship, not detached sunday-school street-evangelism.

God's Wrath as an Expression of His Love

     An interesting quote from Pacifist theologian Miroslav Volf in regards to the nature of God's character and how his anger does not contradict or work against his love, but is rather and expression of it.

      "I used to think that wrath (anger) was unworthy of God. Isn’t God love? Shouldn’t divine love be beyond wrath? God is love, and God loves every person and every creature. That’s exactly why God is wrathful against some of them. My last resistance to the idea of God’s wrath was a casualty of the war in former Yugoslavia, the region from which I come. According to some estimates, 200,000 people were killed and over 3,000,000 were displaced. My villages and cities were destroyed, my people shelled day in and day out, some of them brutalized beyond imagination, and I could not imagine God not being angry. Or think of Rwanda in the last decade of the past century, where 800,000 people were hacked to death in one hundred days! How did God react to the carnage? By doting on the perpetrators in a grandparently fashion? By refusing to condemn the bloodbath but instead affirming the perpetrators basic goodness? Wasn’t God fiercely angry with them? Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn’t wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love."